In this post I’ll try to briefly explain the basics of how my system is set up and will dive deeper into certain aspects in later posts. Don’t be discouraged by any aspects you don’t understand and fee free to reach out to me with any questions about my system or implementing similar concepts into your own.
One of the things I strive for in my system is a modularity which allows me to alter my setup for any projects I have. While lately I’ve mainly done mastering, I often work on projects involving recording, mixing for singles/albums, score mixing, and orchestration.
Although I work entirely in the box, my setup is quite complex in order to achieve the quality of monitoring that I have with what I call “fully digital monitoring.” Everything starts at my PC which I built specifically to handle mastering projects at higher sample rates. For mixing and orchestration work, my previous PC was more than adequate but it suffered to run plugins such as ones from Acustica in series at 96kHz and 192kHz mastering situations.
The PC is connected to an RME Digiface USB. The RME TotalMix is fundamental to my workflow involving complex routing, presets, and monitor level control. I required an interface with at least 4 separate stereo digital outs plus ADAT for higher track counts when needed and this interface was the only one on the market that could handle this (unless I went with MADI plus a separate unit to break that up into separate digital outputs). Although Toslink has inferior jitter figures, the galvanic isolation is great as my audio system is completely separate from my PC at an electrical level. The reclocking done by the rest of my gear in combination with using glass fiber cables (as opposed to the regular plastic Toslink cables) means that this surpasses what most would achieve with a coaxial system.
The first output from my interface goes to my main stereo speakers. The Toslink first feeds into a DEQX. This handles correction filters for each driver, linear phase crossovers, and room EQ using a combination of FIR and IIR filters. The converters on this particular DEQX have been modified by Larry Owens to sound outstanding. The DEQX has a separate output for each driver meaning that it has 6 DAC channels. The high channels go to a THX 789 amp while the mid and low outputs feed a custom Hypex amp I built. These 6 channels of amplification feed their respective drivers on my left and right speakers. That’s a compression driver in a custom horn, a 12” mid, and a 15” sub. These speakers can be thought of as 2-way plus subs rather than 3-way as they aren’t set up as most 3-way speakers on the market. The result is astonishing sound quality that extends below 20Hz. I will go into much more detail on the DEQX and my speakers in later posts.
The second output from my interface goes to a second DEQX which gets used for my center speaker and LFE subwoofer. The center speaker is biamped with a Hypex module and the LFE sub is powered by a modified Behringer NX3000 amp which runs silently. While I don’t typically use Behringer gear in a high end system, this is one of the few amps on the market offering more than 3000W at less than $5000 and which can be run without absurdly loud fans. Considering that it’s only for LFE use, I can live with a less than fantastic amp.
The third output goes to my surround speakers which are the JBL 705p. These have their own EQ and time correction built in. The entire 5.1 system is time aligned to well within 1ms. All in all, there’s about 5750W of power for all of the speakers. While I have used class A and class AB amps in the past, nowadays it’s all class D other than the THX amp.
The last output from the interface goes to an RME ADI-2 DAC for use with my headphones. The only time I work on headphones other than while travelling is for QC work when mastering. This last output also gets used for any other speakers I want to set up in the room such as breaking up the ADAT into multiple channels via another unit in order to work in 7.1.2 for Dolby Atmos projects but that gear is normally not in the room.
Beyond the monitoring system mentioned, the only other relevant piece of gear is my Add-Powr Sorcer 4x which works in mysterious was to improve all of the gear in my system. More detail in a later post…
The concept of fully digital monitoring comes from the fact that in my system, all crossovers are DSP so the only stage of conversion happens after the crossover for each driver. The DACs feed straight into the amps which feed straight into each driver. There are no active or passive crossovers, extra stages of conversion, or anything else in the signal path to futz with the sound quality. It doesn’t get any better than this.
In terms of the modularity to the system, there are a couple of things I bring in and out of the room to accommodate different projects. As mentioned already, additional speakers can be brought in for working in formats past 5.1. When working on orchestration projects I’ll typically bring in a midi controller keyboard to sit under my desk cart as well as other control surfaces. For recording, a separate rig is used which plugs in via ADAT and is normally sufficient as I rarely record anything more than the occasional singer. Having said that, I have plans of installing a more permanent recording rig into my main system consisting of an AEA TRP2, Gyratec tube preamp, and RME ADI-2 FS.
As I mainly deal with mastering, I value having an incredibly low noise floor in my room. In order to achieve this, measures include being in an underground room built with isolation in mind, dead quite fans in my computer (the motherboard itself buzzes louder than the fans…), no mechanical hard drives, and pads built into cables and amps to optimize the hiss in my speakers while maintaining my calibrated working levels. In addition to this, a dedicated power line isolates from the noise generated by the lights in the room.
There’s no studio I’d rather be in.